Sunday, October 28, 2012

BMW 320D EfficientDynamics beats Fiat 500 Twin Air in fuel economy


Coincidentally, at the beginning of this year, both my wife and I started to drive new cars.
We selected new cars based on fuel efficiency, a "green car" with  Energy Label A. Ania was “sold” when she saw the Fiat 500 Cabriolet. I was long awaiting  the BMW 320D EfficientDynamics February introduction.
This car  with an eight-speed automatic transmission has an amazingly efficient engine. My average fuel consumption over the last 46000 km, indicated by the board computer , is 4.6l /100km.  No wonder that it got a 10/10 Green-Car-Guide rating!

Unfortunately, while my wife was enjoying the Fiat 500 driving and its beauty, its fuel consumption was very disappointing. Average fuel consumption reported by the board computer over the last 2500km is 7,2l /100km !

I decided to test both cars myself on the motorway between Best and Amsterdam (111km in total) during a very relaxed traffic conditions ensuring no traffic jams and allowing constant speed between 90 and 110km/h.
The BMW fuel consumption was amazingly low. Far below the technical specification !
The board computer indicated 3.2l /100km but based on the fuel refilling the calculated fuel consumption was 3.93l/100 (average speed 98,2km/h)


The Fiat 500 lost the competition . Indicated , by the board computer fuel consumption was 4.2l, based on refilling data 4.6l despite lower speed adjusted to minimize constant fuel consumption (average speed 86km/h )

BMW fuel costs (6,77 Euro) were 32% less than the cost of the benzine consumed by Fiat 500 (9,96 Euro) !

As I can recommend BMW 320D EfficientDynamics as the best green car in this category I definitely discourage everyone, expecting low fuel consumption, from buying Fiat 500 Twin Air. 

It looks like I am not the only one experiencing very high fuel consumption by the Fiat 500 Twin Air. If you Google for “Fiat 500 Twin Air High Fuel Consumption” you will find hundreds complains. 
In “Eco warrior: Fiat 500 Twinair” you can read “
“But if the drive had been fun and a convincing demonstration of the 500′s ability to be genuine allrounder, it did expose one of the 500 TwinAir’s major weaknesses – fuel economy” 

Real World Car Fuel Consumption v Official Figures describes a case of a Fiat 500 Twin Air driver complaining to BBC about high fuel consumption “he was regularly getting 35mpg and couldn’t understand why when Fiat claim that the 500 will return 68.9mpg as a ‘combined’ figure with up to 76.3mpg on the ‘extra-urban’ cycle.”

My wife complained about the high fuel usage to the Fiat dealer in Eindhoven but she was informed that if this problem is known already on the Internet they can’t do much about it

The only way to put pressure on car manufactures is to start collecting real fuel usage from consumers themselves and publish fuel usage statistics. Smartphone apps open this opportunity and I expect that consumers, very soon,  will be able to confront car manufactures with real numbers, not as individuals, but as driver communities car manufactures won’t be able to ignore anymore.

In the meantime I hope Fiat will provide my wife with advise how to drive Fiat 500 Twin Air economically.

Yesterday (17-11-2012) we agreed with the Fiat dealer at Pietersbergweg in Eindhoven a one week fuel consumption test starting 27-11. However I do not expect much from this, as the dealer confirmed that the fuel usage stated in technical specifications are based on the labs tests and the real-world fuel consumption figures are much higher. The dealer referred to much higher fuel usage by their Fiat 500 Twin Air show model making only 12km on one litre (8,3l per 100km !) .
I agree that the real-world fuel usage can be higher than measured during labs tests. But 80-100% higher usage is misleading consumers and if this is the case Fiat 500 Twin Air should never get a Green label and Dutch tax benefits.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Another great running day


This morning was a lovely Indian Summer. I was running at my usual place, a natural park close to Eindhoven.
When I started my run iRunner was reporting unusually high heart rate and, soon after, gave me a warning about malfunctioning sensor. After a few tries the problem was solved and I could continue my run. 
It reminded me about my frustration caused by Suunto T6 heart rate monitor,for which  I paid at the end of 2007 350 Euro ( more than 500 US dollars !),  reporting also unusually high heart rate without, however, any additional information to help identify possible problems. 
Now 5 years later,  for less than 70 dollars (including smartphone application) , you can enjoy much more intelligent heart rate monitors with far more functionality.

Since I received a replacement for my broken Wahoo sensor ( thanks to a very good service from
i-Mobile.nl in Rotterdam) I take two belts for running,  Polar H7 and Wahoo Blue HR, not to spoil my running by a broken  device.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Apple navigation ideally compliments my BMW one

After iOS 6 and iPhone 5 release Apple got lots of negative publicity about "imperfect new Maps app". I was not under that bad impression after experiencing missing motorways and tunnels on Google maps. As described in my previous post I got very enthusiastic about the Google navigation which I use regularly , especially given that the traffic information is much better than on my BMW navigation .
This spring, while driving from Berlin to Poznan and enjoying the recently opened motorway in Poland, to my surprise, this motorway was missing on Google Maps. Apparently Google missed 200km new motorways opened just before the European 2012 Soccer Championship in Poland & Ukraine which was reported in Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s leading newspaper.

The tunnel “Leidsche Rijntunnel" on A2 between Utrecht and Amsterdam opened in February 2012 did not appear on the Google Maps until summer. Now my Nexus S indicates approaching the tunnel with adjusted brightness on the screen. Apple navigation, the first few days, was also lost in the tunnel.

I am looking forward to the intelligent maps which can much faster respond to the changes. This should be possible by effectively using the location data provided by telecom operators or navigation apps providers.

Telefonica's recent announcement about “big data" analysis service demonstrates such opportunities. I am positive that soon, the location data will be released real time allowing fast updates of navigation maps.

As I enjoy great iPhone integration with my BMW the Apple Navigation is a perfect addition to my BMW Navigation. Apple turn-by-turn navigation can be seamlessly started to bring me to the address found in my email or contact list without a need to start BMW navigation.
The missing map on my BMW large screen or heads-up display is the only disadvantage.

Soon, I hope that the traffic information in Apple Navigation will be as good as the Google one and new BMW integration software will enable displaying Apple Maps on my BMW screen and heads-up display. At that moment Apple will take BMW navigation over :)